Duck and Cover
by Beth Pryor
Summary: What started as Sunday afternoon thoughts from Auggie has grown a life of its own. Things start with Auggie planning a weekend trip home but as usual, duty calls. In a "ripped from the headlines" fashion, Auggie finds himself with a new job with new personal hurdles in his continued post Season 3 relationship with Annie. Joan and the Andersons feature, too. Now COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Duck and Cover**

**Author:** Beth Pryor

**Rating:** T

**Summary:** What started as Sunday afternoon thought from Auggie has taken on a life of its own. Implies Auggie/Annie relationship post Season 3. Auggie's family and Joan will feature. Originally inspired by The Lumineers "Stubborn Love" playing at the end of Episode 3.02, but also taking cues from The Band Perry's "End of Time."

**Disclaimer:** Covert Affairs and its characters belong to the USA Network.

**A/N:** I entered the first part of this into the "I Write Like" Analyzer and it gave me William Shakespeare. Go figure. I usually get Stephen King.

* * *

Chapter 1

Before Annie. After Annie. That's how he now found himself dividing his life into sections. It hadn't always been that way. There had been other, bigger events in his life. Obviously. But somehow the significance of other things faded, paled in comparison to the light she brought his life.

He tried not to think about how much anguish he could have spared them both after Barcelona if he'd just taken her into his arms in the safe house and kissed the shit out of her. What if they'd both followed Joan out of the terminal at Dulles that day and had driven to a B&B in West Virginia for the weekend? But no. He'd gone to find Parker and she'd fallen for Simon.

Fallen. That word seemed about right. Maybe they both needed to hit rock bottom before they could find one another? Prison, jail – Russian and Metro alike would fit most people's description of rock bottom.

Then there was Amsterdam. Auggie nearly missed coming to her rescue, but he made it. Just in time to help her rescue Eyal. Just in time to hear her smile as she embraced another man. He'd heard her smile like that at Ben. Until Ben left her; then she stopped smiling. He thought he could make her smile like that forever if she'd let him. God knows they'd caused each other enough sleepless nights over the years. It would be a relief to know the she was sleeping on the other side of the bed, if for nothing other than peace of mind.

Right. Peace of mind. That was all he was looking for. Auggie laughed out loud in his empty apartment. Piece of ass plus a piece of her heart equals peace of mind? He'd never been a fan of word problems, especially stupid ones that relied on cheesy homophones.

This Sunday morning with Annie at an out-of-town conference for her Smithsonian cover left him with entirely too much time to think. Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals had gone into overtime, and this time the Bruins had snuck one past his Blackhawks. He'd spent most of the morning in bed nursing his hockey hangover. Meet The Press had been over for hours before he roused himself for a shower. As he toweled off, he sought an activity to fill the rest of his day and quiet his racing mind. Undoubtedly something was going on around town, but he didn't feel like navigating. He'd spent Saturday at the office and had actually made it to the bottom of his inbox for once. Groceries had been delivered on Thursday, so he really didn't even need to go out for food.

He welcomed his phone's chirping on the bedside alerting him that he had a voicemail. He hadn't heard it ring, but he'd been playing it loud in the bathroom. No one really needed to know that _it_ had been the new Justin Timberlake album. He didn't have to listen to top shelf jazz _all_ the time. He tapped the screen and the phone informed him the message came from his brother Brendan. Auggie listened to the request to call back when he had the chance. He instructed the phone to redial the number, and a few seconds later, Brendan answered.

"Auggie!" His brother answered with more excitement that Auggie had expected from the short message.

"What's up, Bren?"

"Not a whole lot today. What do you have going on this week?"

"Um, work I guess. Nothing too important, though." Auggie had read Brendan and his wife Dana in on the fact that he wasn't just a software engineer a couple of Christmases ago. "Why? What do you need?"

"I got Game 5 tickets. The company has a box and nobody in the Front Office could go. One of the marketing guys had them, but his kid broke his elbow or something yesterday and he just called to see if I wanted them."

"Wow. That's great. You and the boys will have a good time." Auggie wasn't sure how this news impacted him.

"No, Aug. That's why I'm calling. The boys are at lacrosse camp. Don't even ask about that one. Now apparently I'm going to have to pay for them to go to Duke or UVA or Johns Hopkins or something instead of living off the NHL money."

Auggie laughed. Brendan's 15-year-old twin sons had always been talented athletes, and hockey had been by far their best sport. Brendan and Dana often joked about the boys becoming professional athletes and taking care of them, but they obviously wanted their kids to be happy.

Brendan continued. "I was calling to see if you can come out next weekend for the game. I mean, I totally understand if you can't, and I'm sure I'd be able to find someone else who'd want to go, but I wanted to ask you first."

Auggie closed his eyes as he sat down on the bed. "I'd love to Brendan. Let me check on a few things, but if there's any way I can swing it, I will. Can I call you back in a few hours?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Take your time. I could ask Troy on Saturday afternoon and he'd say yes I'm sure," Brendan said, indicating their older brother's love of the Blackhawks and getting away from his wife's weekend "Honey Do" lists.

Both brothers laughed before Auggie spoke. "I'm sure you're right about that. Somehow Leah always lets him come back home after he bails on her big plans, though."

"Yeah, don't let him fool you. He was off on Friday and spent the past two days making a stone path to her meditation garden or whatever she calls that thing in the backyard with the koi pond. The dog always eats the fish. It's a mess."

Auggie laughed again. He remembered the love in Troy's eyes when he'd announced to his brothers that he was going to ask Leah to marry him. Auggie heard that same devotion in his brother's voice when he talked about his wife of more than 10 years or their three kids to this very day.

They talked for a few more minutes before Auggie begged off the phone to try to arrange a trip home. He'd visited for about two days over Christmas, but he loved the idea of spending the weekend with Brendan, the brother with whom he had the closest relationship and with Dana who had been a classmate and close friend of Auggie's all through school.

He tugged on a t-shirt a pair of sweat pants before ambling toward the office and taking a look over his schedule. His fingers skimmed over the keyboard as the agenda scrolled beneath them. As he had remembered, nothing too important or pressing appeared. He searched for a flight out and found options on Thursday and Friday. He didn't want to wear out his welcome, but he was starting to think like a long weekend was just what he needed.

His next task was to call Joan. It could have waited until tomorrow, but dollars to doughnuts, she'd be at the office. He rang through to her direct number. She answered on the second ring.

"I thought I might see you here today," was her greeting.

"I got through everything yesterday. That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about, though."

"Oh?"

"My brother called and asked me to come out next weekend. I think I'm going to make a few days of it, if you can spare me."

Other than his yearly jaunt to Istanbul, he never asked for time off. She had to have him removed from the building in 2009 when he had H1N1. Joan wished he'd get away more often.

"Sure. We'll figure it out. Stu and Barber are around, and I can rustle up someone from Tech Ops if we need to." They would be able to function without him, but Joan also knew that he needed to be needed.

"You're sure?"

"Of course. You need some Midwest recharging and maybe some space from us."

"Us?"

"Oh, you know, to whomever that applies."

"Are you really going to make this the time that we talk about this? On the phone?"

"We could grab a bite. I could meet you somewhere?"

"Joan," he started to protest the entire conversation.

"I know, I know," she stopped him. "Arthur's golfing with some members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Corker and Kaine, I think. Maybe somebody from the NSA, too. That's going to be a long day."

Auggie was glad he didn't have to be a part of that foursome. He considered Joan's offer. "I actually haven't eaten anything yet. And it is what, 2:30?"

"Almost 3, actually. Where do you want to meet?"

"What are you in the mood for?"

"It's a gorgeous day. Something outside. Maybe that Belgian café on Florida?"

"Why don't you meet me here and we'll decide. You can park in my spot. It's open."

"I'll be there in about an hour."

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for your follows and reviews. This next part somehow became Auggie/Joan. I'm mapping the trajectory of the story out right now, but I'm not completely sure exactly where we'll go in this one.

* * *

Chapter 2

"I'm pretty sure you're the only person who eats here." Auggie remarked as he and Joan settled into a garden table at the café Joan had picked.

"Do you know how infrequently I get to do what I want to do?" Joan asked.

Auggie laughed and patted her hand. "Anything you want." He paused and took a deep breath. "I know what you want to talk about, so I'm going to give you that, too."

"What happened in Mumbai cannot happen again." He could tell that she was looking right at him, and she'd adopted her serious voice.

"If I had been in Mumbai, it wouldn't have happened." He tried.

Joan sighed. "I can't put you on the ground with her, Auggie. You know that. And if you can't handle being on the other end of the phone, then you can't handle her. I can't have your emotions compromising missions."

"It's the first time it's ever happened." He knew it wasn't. But his meltdown when things had gone off script had just been the most obvious example of how ingrained into his life Annie had become.

"It's not the first time. When it comes to Annie, you wear your heart on your sleeve. Always have."

"Things are going really well," he confided. "I feel like we are actually getting somewhere. I can't let anything happen to her, Joan. I just can't."

This time Joan touched his hand. "I understand that. I really do, but if you doubt yourself or her, you put her in danger. You know that."

"So what do I do? Arthur banished me over six months ago, and I don't see that freeze melting anytime soon."

Joan wasn't always sure how or when her husband would decide on that front. "I can't give you the perfect answer, but I know there's always interest in you and your skills. There are at least four department heads who routinely ask what they need to do to steal you." She paused to let him take that in before she continued. "If Arthur truly has passed you over, there are other places where you could still advance."

"He's the DCS, Joan. I can't go anywhere in covert operations without his approval." Auggie shook his head.

Joan jumped in. "I was thinking a little more broadly. I have it on good advice that the DOJ and the NSA are both in the market for some good press."

"No shit." Auggie scoffed. "I can't be the feel-good hit of every summer, though."

"There are options, Auggie, if it's too…much." She decided upon that word, knowing he'd rebel against the thought of anything being too hard for him.

He composed his thoughts a moment before responding. "I just don't see how she could ever be inconspicuous. I can pick out her footfalls in a group, her scent from across the room or her laughter from a jumbled audio file. I know if I could see her, I'd never believe that she could just blend into the background. She's stunning and remarkable. If I saw her in the field, I'd mark her every time. And now without Eyal even there as a possibility of backup…" He shook his head.

Joan's voice constricted to a hoarse whisper. "I'm going to do everything I can to keep my operatives safe. Always. Yes, I love a big win as much as the next guy, but not ever at the sake of one of my people. You have to know that and you have to believe that for this continue working."

"I do know it, but when it's concerning Annie, I sometimes lose my footing, boundaries, mind, whatever you want to call it."

"And that's what I'm telling you can't happen."

"I understand." He stopped and then started again. "We're in that sort of no-man's-land before you jump in or don't, and I want this for us."

"Are you living together?" It really wasn't any of her business, and she struggled to hold her voice even.

"Her sister Danielle's house is on the market, and that's where she stays now. There have been a few offers, so that makes her a little nervous and maybe is pushing us into something sooner that we otherwise would have done it, but it seems silly for her to pay rent for her own place she maybe stays at two nights a week anyway."

"Would you give up your place?" How did they get here? Oh, right. She'd asked.

"I think I'd have to. I can't keep it and my safe flat and a new place with Annie."

"Yes, I guess that makes sense."

"So much of it does make sense and so much of it is total nonsense. I almost don't know what to believe."

"Believe that she loves you. There's nothing but love and admiration in her eyes when she looks at you, talks about you, writes an email about you. She's always admired and looked up to you, but it's changed." Joan shaded her eyes from the changing sunlight and glanced at her phone. "It's getting late, and I've sufficiently pried in your private life for one night."

Auggie grabbed her hand as she began to push back from the table. "You think Annie's are the only footsteps I can pick out in a crowd? I know you're there Joan, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate – and often need it – but I have to do this on my own."

"I know you do, Auggie. But I'll still be there."

"Thanks, Joan. I wouldn't expect anything less."

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Annie arrives! I've never written Annie/Auggie, so I hope it's close to what people have imagined. You input on things you like and things you don't is always welcome. The disclaimers from Chapter 1 apply, and no offence intended to the good folks of Ohio, Michigan and the Midwest in general.

* * *

Chapter 3

Back in the apartment, Auggie again dialed his brother's number. Brendan answered almost immediately as though he was sitting around waiting for Auggie's call.

"Dana needs to give you a "Honey Do" list, I think," Auggie admonished his brother.

"Couldn't help it. I was dying to hear your answer."

"Is it okay if I crash for a couple of days? I was thinking about leaving Thursday after work."

Brendan's voice increased in pitch. "Yeah! Absolutely. What time do you need a pickup?"

"Plane gets in to Midway at ten thirty, but I'll grab a cab. That's too late to ask you to come all the way to the airport."

"Not a problem. It keeps us young to be awake past ten!"

He laughed with Brendan, understanding the feeling at times. "Are you sure the whole thing isn't too much of an inconvenience?"

"Auggie, seriously. We're happy to have you. The guest room is made up, and the boys won't be back until Sunday evening."

"Okay. Thanks." He hadn't spent that much time with his brothers since the accident, and other than a few nights with his mom and dad, he'd always gotten a hotel room when he'd been in the area.

They hung up after making a few more plans. Auggie headed to the office to call up some easy listening jazz on the stereo. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and slid back into the sweats he'd been wearing before Joan had called. He was just settling into his chair with a tech magazine on the coffee table in front of him when he heard her key in the door. She pushed the door open before he made it to the entrance to meet her.

"I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow evening!" He reached toward Annie and pulled her into a quick embrace.

She planted a kiss on his cheek. "Ah, then you'd better hide the hookers."

"Nah," he laughed. "You just missed them." He kissed her back. "Let me help you with your bags."

She placed the handle of her roller bag into his outstretched hand. "Sure thing. Where will they be out of the way? I have a small duffel, too."

He thought about it for a second about where her things wouldn't be under foot. "Behind the bedroom door."

She stowed her bags just in time to answer a second knock at the door. "Oh, I ordered dinner on the way," she explained as she grabbed the Vietnamese take-out and set the food out on the kitchen table. "I got you beef Pho and spring rolls. Here or the couch?"

Auggie moved his things back into the office and grabbed fresh beer for both of them before joining her in the kitchen. He set the bottles on the table before wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. "Um, couch."

"Here," she said lifting a piece of her egg roll to his mouth. "Try this."

"Mmm. Did I get any of that?" He asked before retrieving the bottles and following her to their seat.

"I'm willing to share," Annie conceded as they settled on the cushions.

"So, you still haven't told me how I won the pleasure of your company tonight," he continued as Annie handed him a bowl of soup before snuggling back against his chest.

"Well, the conference was a snooze-fest. Big surprise there. So it was actually a bit of a relief to get a call from Arthur this morning."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. There's some movement on the NSA whistleblower. Word is there may be more intel he's planning to release that could indirectly affect military actions planned for the next several weeks – mostly drone strikes, I think, but also could compromise at least three of our people in the field. It's not completely decided, but it looks like their guy is leaving Hong Kong in the next days or two. Best guess says he's going to Russia, seeing as Putin's given permission for him to enter."

"Over my dead body!" Auggie protested, nearly spilling the Pho and both bottles of beer as he jumped from his seat. "Your passport is flagged. They know you're a spy."

Annie reached up to place her hand on his and urged him back into his seat. "Hold your horses there, Trigger. I'm not up for any trips to Russia anytime soon, especially as Annie Walker, but there is also a chance he'll go to South America." Annie took a long swig of her beer. "Apparently that Argentina thing a few years ago played well, so I got the call. The top contenders are Venezuela and Ecuador."

Auggie drank from his own bottle. "So, what are you supposed to do?"

He heard Annie's shirt rustle against her hair as she shrugged. "Not really sure yet. Maybe try to intercept the distribution of the information. Offer him money or asylum? For now, I just have to hang out and see if I get put in play."

"Is this considered a DPD op? I'm sure Joan would be glad to have you working with us again." He offered, still trying to bridge the gap between the two women in his life.

"Arthur really didn't specify, although I doubt the one semi-successful op I've run under Joan's direction in the past three months hardly makes her giddy about the prospect of us working together again."

"Oh, come on." His hand found hers.

"I miss working with you too, Auggie, but I can't always be under her thumb."

"Annie," he pressed. "It's really not like that."

She reached up to caress the side of his face, twisting a stray strand of his hair in her fingers. "I really don't want to spend this bonus evening with you discussing Joan Campbell. Or Arthur Campbell for that matter."

"Point taken, Miss Walker. Should we save the rest of this for later? I don't mind admitting that I'm fully willing to fall into your Honey Trap."

She smacked him playfully on the arm. "Just for that, you're helping me clean up!"

"If that means we're done in half the time, then count me in!"

* * *

Less than half an hour later, they were soaking in Auggie's sunken tub. "This is what I had in mind the entire drive back from Cleveland. Have you ever been to Cleveland? It's like the Detroit of Ohio. Even more reason to come home to you."

Auggie sighed in response. He realized he'd rather hold her in his arms and listen to her prattle on about depressing Midwestern cities than do just about anything else in the world.

"Hey, you back there?" she asked after a moment.

He'd been quiet for a long time. "What, oh yeah. I'm here."

The water stirred a bit as she moved on top of him. "I don't think you are. What's up?"

He sighed again. "My brother invited me to Chicago for the weekend. He has Stanley Cup tickets."

"Um, that's amazing. You guys will have a great time."

"I don't know if I should go if there's a chance you'll be on a mission."

She shifted in the tub so she was as close to facing him as possible. "No way! You are definitely going. There is no way a 'possible mission' is keeping you from a fun weekend with your family - your brothers, at the Stanley Cup Finals! If I'm working with the DPD, those guys will be able to handle things, and if not, I'm sure my Tech Ops support will be equally capable."

He knew she was right but still found it hard to relinquish the one real control he held. "I really do want to go," he admitted.

Her hand again traced the angle of his jaw before affectionately sweeping the damp hair from his eyes. "I know, love. And I'll be here waiting for you when you get back."

He kissed her hand and pulled her closer to him, hoping she was right.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Here's a little more. This actually seems to be developing a bit of a plot. Go figure. Thanks a million to my lovely reviewers. To those of you following along, I appreciate your interest, too! Please let me know what you think ;-)

* * *

Chapter 4

Monday reared its ugly head bright and early. Auggie hit snooze three times before Annie crawled across him to silence the alarm while he ignored he clock's fourth attempt at rousing them.

"We're actually going to have to get up eventually, you know," she cooed into his ear as she fell back onto her side of the bed.

"I know, I know," he groaned, throwing his legs over the side of the bed with exaggerated effort. To say he was not optimistic about the prospect of the day may have been the understatement of the century.

An hour and a half later, sitting at his desk sifting though files, he didn't feel any more energized than he had on snooze #2. There had been no word from Arthur or anyone else on the NSA whistleblower's movements. Joan had been insanely busy on something for Persia House that he apparently wasn't needed for, and he hadn't heard a peep from Annie since they had driven in. Feeling himself in danger of nodding off, he pulled off his headphones and checked the time. Only 9:15. He had to stretch his legs. He rang Annie's current extension with no answer before grabbing the laser cane and heading to Starbucks.

He was almost on autopilot as he walked into the atrium toward the coffee he hoped would jar him from his funk. The shuffle and scuffing of his coworkers' feet alerted him to the fact that he wasn't the only person suffering from a case of the Mondays. Two or three people called out hellos as he traversed the hall. He had just taken his place at the back of the line when a subtle mist of Jo Malone Grapefruit and the unmistakable tap of Jimmy Choos approached from the left. Annie was about three steps away when he turned to her and smiled.

"Good morning again."

She rubbed her hand down his arm and he placed his hand on her elbow. "That's not fair, you know," she admonished. "I can never sneak up on you."

"Well, not if you're wearing those shoes," he admitted. "Here's a little secret – the left one squeaks."

Annie turned him 90 degrees to the right and started walking diagonally from where he'd been standing. "Well, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. You weren't actually in the line. It's over here."

"Seriously?"

"Don't worry. I won't ever leave you standing in the middle of a room."

"Unlike my lovely co-workers." Auggie turned back, as though casting dirty looks over those who had walked by him.

"Eh, don't blame them. Some contractor was about to direct you, but I waved him off."

Auggie adopted an air of faux indignation. "How chivalrous of you, Miss Walker."

"Oh, come on. How fun is it for me if I'm the one who always needs to be rescued?" She gave him a playful shove with the flip of her hip.

"Ah, the pitfalls of loving you," he whispered into her hair as they moved closer to the counter.

Fifteen minutes later, they were back in his office in the DPD, coffee in hand, when Joan's new secretary, a girl Annie had never seen before knocked at the doorframe. "Auggie, Director Campbell needs to see you in his office and he asked that you bring Miss Walker."

He thanked her and raised his eyebrows in Annie's direction. "Ticker tape parade or firing squad?"

"Your guess is better than mine. Although, given my place in the Campbell dog house, I'm thinking the latter."

Auggie laughed but didn't really reassure her. "Why don't you lead the way?" He took her arm and they headed to the seventh floor.

* * *

"So until we have something more concrete from Russia, Ecuador, or Venezuela, there's really nothing for us to do," Arthur explained. "Well, nothing for you to do, anyway. The initial destination is almost certain to be Russia. State is just now in the process of revoking his passport, and while Hong Kong has been a bit more accommodating than they had to be, we're not sending anyone to China and you're not going to Russia. Until then, I would like for you to stay on with the translating service, Annie. I know it's not the most glamorous assignment, but I want you available to move on this as soon as we have something actionable."

Arthur turned to Auggie. "This operation is a bit unprecedented – the, um, cooperation with State, the NSA and the DOJ." He cleared his throat as though he barely believed that much government bureaucracy could ever accomplish anything other than hanging them all in red tape. "I need someone on the covert side to run the day-to-day, someone I can trust with something of this magnitude. It's really a cross between OSP and OCA, and I think we both know that you're the man for the job."

Auggie sat rooted to the chair. Annie glanced over, and seeing the look of astonishment on his face, gave his arm a little poke. Auggie jumped up from his chair and reached his hand out to Arthur. "Thank you, sir. I won't let you down." The two men shook hands.

"You'd better not." Arthur replied, a smile tightening his face. Auggie knew that he meant it, too. Arthur placed a flash drive in Auggie's hand. "Why don't you familiarize yourself with the situation, and let me know what you think tomorrow by 09:00 before the Joint Task Force meeting at 10:30." Annie noticed that he had subtly moved them both toward the door. "That will be all for now," Arthur finished, and they found themselves standing in the outer office.

They waited until they were in the elevator until either one tried to speak. Annie went first.

"What just happened there?"

"I think that was the summarization of every visit I've ever made to the seventh floor. Three parts dread, one part expectation, two parts perspiration and an uncertain outcome every time."

"How many parts are there supposed to be?" Annie asked, perplexed Auggie's equation.

"Exactly. Who even knows. The rules are fluid." He ran a hand through his hair. "It's like the best or worst day of your life, but you're still not sure which one."

"It was definitely a vote of confidence for you," Annie assured.

"And you," Auggie echoed. "You're still his go-to girl."

"But back to the translation cave until then," she sighed. "I was hoping I'd get to hang out with you guys at least for a little while."

Auggie let his hand extend down from her elbow to squeeze her hand. "You did ask for a transfer, and Joan is his wife."

"I know." They arrived at his floor. "Meet you for lunch?"

"Sure." He headed back to his desk and cleared off the workspace, Arthur's flash drive burning a hole in his pocket. He grabbed their neglected coffee cups and placed them in the trash. Somehow, he didn't think he was going to need any more caffeine right now.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Thanks again to my reviewers, especially Marie King who's been around since the beginning. Auggie's new job begins to take shape. I'm still working hard to get him out of town by Thursday night. I thought maybe he and Annie should talk some things out before he goes. Hope to hear your take on this one!

* * *

Chapter 5

Auggie spent the next two days up to his eyeballs in his new responsibilities. He briefed Arthur on a preliminary plan less than 24 hours after receiving the drive. Following their meeting, he waited the agonizing three hours while the DCS presented their proposal to the Joint Task Force. When Arthur gave him the go-ahead to assemble the teams just before noon on Tuesday, Auggie hadn't slept for more than 45 minutes in about 30 hours. He wanted to try to sneak away for a nap, but he knew he needed to notify the operatives and analysts so they could begin preparations. Auggie called Annie to his office to collect the dossier she would need as lead field operative on the South American team. When she arrived at his desk, he was pleasantly surprised to find that she had come bearing three bottles of water and a box of vitamin packets with added caffeine.

"You don't have to suck up to me, Walker, you already got the job," he grinned, kissing her cheek as she bent across his desk to deposit the loot.

"You look like you could use more than this."

"I showered. And shaved," he added swiping his hand across his face.

"Are you going to make it home tonight?"

"Not sure yet. I need to get the materials to the teams. Arthur has a briefing at the White House tomorrow, and we'll know how acutely on alert we're actually going to be after that." He felt himself losing the second wind, or was it the third, that he'd briefly felt when she'd walked in. He leaned forward and rested his head on his clasped hands, thumbs pressing against his closed eyes.

"Headache?" She asked as she moved behind him, her small but strong hands expertly massaging his neck and shoulders.

"Yeah." Other than blindness, the migraines were thankfully the only lingering reminder of his traumatic brain injury. Sleep deprivation and stress had proven to be his two most potent triggers. Go figure.

"Are the others on the way up?"

Auggie nodded.

"Leave the files with your assistant or with me, and get out of here for a while."

"Arthur may need me." He wasn't about to give the DCS any reason not to trust him again if he could help it in any way.

"He can call you in a couple of hours when you've rested and eaten something other than caffeine and vitamin packs." Annie retrieved a stack of folders from his desk. "We'll deal with these."

"Are you sure?" Auggie pushed his chair back from the desk and slowly stood. He grabbed his cane from the top drawer of the desk and stood unmoving for a second. "I don't remember what I did with my bag."

Annie scanned the room and found it across the room on the floor beside a planter. She handed it to Auggie as she guided him out of his office and into the waiting area where his new assistant sat. She handed over the folders and asked the young analyst behind the desk to call for Auggie's car service.

"I've never done this before," he admitted once they hit the elevator. "I've never left work in the middle of the day – except for the time I had the swine flu."

"I know Auggie. Joan had the medical officer escort you out. The story is legendary in the DPD, actually, in most of the building for that matter."

His driver met them outside. Annie slipped in the back seat so she could properly kiss him. He sighed heavily into her hair. It took every ounce of willpower Annie possessed to release the embrace and exit the car.

Back inside, she oversaw the distribution of materials to the other members of Auggie's team before trudging through the stacks of communication requiring translation piled on her temporary desk. Around 4:30, she called Auggie's number. He answered on the third ring.

"Did I wake you?"

"Not really." He yawned. "Sort of."

"I'm leaving here in about 30 minutes. Want to grab a run before dinner? I'm climbing the walls."

"Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Rock Creek Park Trails? I can meet you at your place around 6. Might be a little cooler."

"Sounds great. What time is it now?" She heard him fumbling around his bedside table.

"About quarter to five."

"Ok, good. I'm going to sleep for a little while longer. See you in a bit."

"Sweet dreams."

Auggie was dressed and stretched when Annie arrived. She slipped into her shorts, jog bra and tank quickly as he paced by the door. The afternoon nap had evidently energized him. The headed out toward their regular trail, hand in hand at first, but transitioning over to the wrist tether when they began to run. About an hour and a 10K later, they were headed back to the house.

He hit the shower first while Annie called for a pizza. While she was cleaning up, he made a salad. They settled on the couch and had made it about half way through the pizza when she scooted forward on the cushion and turned toward him.

"Something tells me the question and answer portion of this dinner is about to begin."

"Well, yeah. What time is Arthur meeting with the President? What do you think the odds are that they'll move him to an Embassy instead of trying to get into Ecuador or Venezuela like Assange? And did he say if he'd let me go somewhere else in Europe, I mean, if it's the Moscow airport, it's technically not Russia and on an Agency passport, I could get in undetected."

"Whoa!" He pulled on her ponytail, jovially trying to rein her in. "I think we'll cover all of that tomorrow, but as far as the embassy thing, I think the odds are infinitely greater than you getting anywhere near Russia. Or Russian waters. Or Russian airspace. Or Russian airports. No matter what passport you're carrying. And I have a feeling that is coming down from the West Wing not the Seventh Floor."

"The President cares if I go to Russia?"

"I don't think he would have if you hadn't threatened international diplomacy by killing an FSB agent on Russian soil before being arrested and thrown into prison which required an unsanctioned Black Op by an unsanctioned foreign intelligence officer to free you. But now, yes. I'd say he'd rather you not go. And by 'rather not' I think he means 'forbidden.'"

"Right. I get that," Annie reasoned. "But sometimes I wonder about Zarya."

"And by sometimes you mean all the time." Auggie put two and two together very quickly. "You really loved him, didn't you?" He couldn't believe that they'd been doing whatever this was for almost seven months without really ever having this conversation.

Annie was quieter than he'd ever known her to be. "Yes," she finally whispered. "And he's dead because of me. And now his sister has no one."

"Hey, listen to me," Auggie insisted, sliding forward on the couch beside her. "He's dead because of Lena."

"But he crossed Lena because of me. He'd never done anything like that before. I told him I'd leave with him. Right before I called you. I was packing a bag, and then I saw Katia and Chloe's picture, and I just couldn't do it." The words just tumbled out.

"You didn't commit treason – that's a good thing, Annie." He found her shoulder and gently rubbed her arm. "You love your nieces – that's good, too."

"But I also loved a Russian spy, and I thought about committing treason to be with him."

"Annie."

"There's no getting around that, Auggie, not really."

"I have. We all have. Arthur, Joan, everyone who works with you."

"Has Joan? I don't think you can fully appreciate the way she looks at me. It's like she looks right through me."

"She understands your position more than any of us possibly could."

"She never would have gone that far. She always kept me from going to that level."

"Why do you think she's always insisted upon that, Annie? She's only trying to save you from the mistakes she made, to help you be even better than you already are." He stood from the couch and paced the room. "You're an amazing operative. Your talent is prodigious, but you can still learn. From Joan, from Arthur, from me, maybe." He turned to face where Annie was sitting on the couch. "You really don't have to do this by yourself. Trust your team. Trust me."

Annie rose slowly and met him in front of the coffee table. "I told you I wouldn't ever leave you alone in the middle of the room, and I know you won't leave me out there on my own. I do know this, Auggie, but have I gone too far out of bounds to come back in? If the same type of situation presented itself again, would I do it again? Have I opened a door that I can't close?"

He pulled her into his arms, attempting to quell her trembling. "I don't know, Sweetheart. I'd love to tell you that you'll get back to 'normal' any day now, but you won't. You went down that road with him and you loved him and you lost someone you loved. That doesn't ever go away." He kissed the top of her head. "I don't think it means that you'll ever feel the need to go to that extent with a target or possible asset, but once you've crossed a line, it is easier to do it again."

Annie tilted her head upward so she was looking into his face. "Did you love Parker?"

He nodded, not really in reply but to signify that he knew the question was coming. "I thought I did, but the more I think about it, I loved the idea of her loving me more than I actually loved her. If that even makes sense."

Their fingers entwined. "Do you think we'll make it?"

"I don't know." He rubbed his forehead with his free hand. "I hope so."

"Me, too."

"You staying?"

"Not tonight. You have another big day tomorrow."

"It's okay. I won't let you keep me up all night."

"Still. I need…I'll see you tomorrow."

"I love you, Annie."

"I love you, too, Auggie." She reached up and kissed him. Well. "Goodnight."

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for your continued reading, reviews, messages, follows, etc. As you can see at the end of this one, the Andersons will feature heavily in the next chapter for those who have been waiting for some Auggie Family Time. Big thanks to Rachel Wilder - one of my first FF inspirations who's followed this one closely with lots of encouraging words.

* * *

Chapter 6

When word reached Annie on Wednesday afternoon that Arthur was back on campus, she made a beeline for Auggie's office. His assistant, she now knew his name was Evan, shook his head when Annie pointed to the door. She had a pretty good idea where he'd be. She found him demolishing the heavy bag a few minutes later.

"Good news or bad news?" Sometimes it was hard to tell the difference around here.

Auggie stepped back from the bag and shook out his arms and shoulders. He ripped the Velcro strap from his left glove with his teeth. "We're on ice. The President doesn't want us to move an inch."

"Ugh." She stepped a little closer as he pulled off the right glove and flexed his fingers. "I'm sorry, Auggie. That sucks."

He shrugged. "Arthur wants me to stay put and keep going through the intel. We're re-routing any mission he could have gotten information on and could possibly compromise. I have six analysts combing through about a billion lines of code and sixteen NSA servers to try to highlight anything that could be dangerous if leaked."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"What about Chicago?"

Auggie shrugged again. "I don't see why I can't go. We're not moving on anything until he moves. They were perfectly clear about that."

He looked so defeated. She nearly hugged him but restrained herself. "Heading back upstairs?"

"Maybe. I'm gonna do weights first."

"Need a spot?" She wasn't leaving him alone just yet.

"That would be great."

* * *

Auggie could hear the phone ringing on the other side of the door when he got home. He fumbled a little more than usual with the keys as he hurried in. About seven people had his home number, and he liked most of them. He couldn't quite hear the Caller ID from the door, though.

He pushed through just in time for the phone to call out "Anderson, Brendan" before it went silent. Auggie deposited his keys, bag and cane by the door as he waited for the phone to finish. He fished a beer from the fridge and typed his access code into the phone base. The Andersons were used to him missing out on plans because of work obligations – they just didn't always know the nature of the work. Brendan's message was light and noncommittal but asked Auggie to call back to confirm plans for the next day when he got a chance.

Auggie changed his clothes, stretching his pecs as he pulled the t-shirt on. He'd overdone it a little with the weights in his frustration. He picked up the phone on the kitchen counter as he browsed through the medicine cabinet. He found the one labeled 'Advil' and shook four capsules into his hand. He grabbed a glass of water and sat on the couch. After he swallowed the pills, he called Brendan back. He was leaving a voicemail when Brendan called him on the other line.

"Hey, sorry." Brendan sounded a little breathless. "Just sitting down for dinner."

"I can call back."

"No. It's fine. Dana was worried about you."

"Sorry." He really was. "Things got a little crazy on Monday but have finally settled down a bit."

"Oh." Brendan was used to this conversation.

"No, it's fine. I think we're all good." Auggie knew Brendan was expecting him to cancel. "I just sent you my itinerary."

"Oh." Brendan found himself pleasantly surprised this time. "You sound tired."

"Just a long week."

"It's only Wednesday."

"Exactly."

"I'm glad you'll be able to make it. Sounds like you could use a break."

"Yeah," he sighed. "You learn to take time off when you can."

"Everything else okay?"

"Yeah."

"Dana is telling me to ask you if you're dating anyone." Auggie heard the click as she joined them on the line.

"I'm just being nosy, Auggie. If you don't want to talk now, that's fine."

"No. It's okay." He rubbed his eyes and sank back into the couch. "I am seeing someone. It's been going on for a while now, about six months."

Dana's voice brightened on the other end of the phone. "That sounds exciting. Tell us about her."

"Um," he paused. He hadn't planned to read the family in on Annie just yet. He decided to keep it general. "She's super smart, funny, sophisticated, gorgeous, and really good at what she does."

"You mean what you do?" Brendan asked, almost apprehensively.

"What I did, but…"

"But what? That sounds amazing, Auggie." Dana chimed in.

"She knows what I do now, who I am now. She doesn't know any of the things I was before. She never saw me like I was." Although he'd been thinking this for months, maybe years, he hadn't allowed himself to say it aloud. Especially not in the case of Annie.

Brendan fielded this. "Auggie. I'm sure that doesn't matter. Not really."

"Maybe not now, but how long will this realistically last? I'm afraid the novelty might wear off." But he feared more than that. "All the other guys she's been with since I've known her are so much like who I used to be."

Brendan sighed. Auggie had briefly told him about the Parker fiasco. "She knows you, Aug. There aren't secrets or pretense, and she chose you."

"I still don't see how I can be enough."

"Then bring her home," Dana interrupted. "We'll tell her everything she needs to know."

"I don't know if we're there yet, and I really can't see how regaling her with stories about the past would be helpful."

"Dana's right," Brendan insisted. "That's exactly what families do. They meet your new girlfriend and tell her all the embarrassing and wonderful thing about you. She gets to see you the way we do, and it helps her form a more complete picture of who you were and who you are and who you're likely to be."

"I guess."

"Oh, I'm totally sure of it. Do you think Dana would have ever gone out with me if you guys hadn't been such good friends?"

"Well, that is a good point."

Dana laughed through her phone. "Oh, Auggie. Just bring her with you. I promise we will be on our best behavior."

He wasn't committing to anything. "This time may not work out, but sometime soon. I'll see you tomorrow."

As he placed the phone back in its cradle, he realized he hadn't eaten anything all day and barely for the previous two. He guessed he should try to find something in the house, but that would likely be easier said than done. He pulled on a pair of shoes, grabbed his cane, opened the door, and nearly ran smack into Annie.

"I thought you'd have smelled the pizza down the hall." She said as she offered him the box.

He took it and backed through the doorway. "I was acutely unaware of my surroundings. Good thing it was you!"

"Yeah," she laughed as she reached up to kiss him. She grabbed the box from him and placed it on the counter. "I was thinking."

"Usually a dangerous pastime."

"Undoubtedly." She grabbed plates and two bottles of beer from the fridge. "But seeing as you're on ice and going out of town and I'm stuck on the translation service, would it be completely out of line for me to want to go with you?"

"You want to meet my family?" He'd met Danielle and the girls, but that was totally different.

"Not if you don't want me to."  
"No, that's not what I mean at all. I don't want you to be uncomfortable or rushed into anything." He felt himself backtracking. "It was a last-minute plan, and I didn't know how you'd feel about meeting everyone like that."

Annie shrugged. "It seems like it would be low-key."

"As long as you don't mind being thrown in the Anderson deep end, because if they know I'm brining a girl, they'll be crawling out of the woodwork."

"I think I can handle it." Her pulse quickened, but true to Annie Walker form, her voice never wavered.

"If you're sure."

"They won't mind?"

He laughed. "I just got three-way bombed by Brendan and Dana telling me to bring you."

"Well, then I guess it's settled."

Realizing his hunger as the aroma of pizza filled the room, he grabbed a slice. "Can you leave tomorrow night?"

She reached around him and grabbed one of her own. "Let's see if there's room on your flight."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks again for your responses and reviews. Reviews really do make for faster writitng! They're on their way, but before they get there, Annie gets a crash course in who's who.

* * *

Chapter 7

"Rhett is the oldest. He's eight years older than me. His wife is Ruth. They're both, how do I put this, old souls?" Auggie sat in the aisle seat while Annie occupied the window. They'd spent a little extra for the upgrade to the two-seat rows in avoidance of the middle seat. "Everyone used to say he was 15 going on 57. And then he went to college and met this girl who enjoyed quilting and singing in the church choir. It was a match made in the retirement home. They are truly two peas in a pod. He's a furniture restorer and runs the county historical society and she's an archivist at the University of Chicago undergraduate library."

"Wow. They do sound similar. Do they have kids?"

Auggie shook his head. "No. They decided not to. I'm not sure if they ever tried. And I feel like they would have spent eighteen years trying to keep their kids off the lawn or something if they had. It was the right choice for them, I think."

"Ok, so then comes Troy." Annie had heard most about Troy and Brendan but was definitely taking in all the information she could on this primer of Auggie's older brothers.

"Right. He's about two years younger than Rhett and is married to Leah. They have three girls. Troy works in finance and Leah is a dental hygienist. They've been married for about 10 years and their kids are young – all under eight. He tries to pretend he's totally corporate and not the ultimate family man, but no one is buying it. He's totally smitten with Leah and the kids."

Annie had a feeling she'd like Troy but continued her prompting. "Next comes Brendan?"

"Yeah. He's almost four years older than me but just three grades ahead in school. His wife Dana was one of my best friends in high school. They started dating when we were freshmen and have pretty much been together ever since. School was always really hard for Brendan. He gave community college his best shot and ended up getting a 2-year degree as a surveyor. He's been working in and around construction ever since. Dana was a sophomore at U of I when she got pregnant with the twins. They got married immediately – it's not like they weren't going to anyway. She finished her teaching degree by the time the boys were in pre-school."

"Wow." They'd never gotten nearly into this depth about his family. Or hers. "And they just have the two boys?"

"Yeah. Emmett and Eamon. An over-MTVed babysitter started calling them Em and Em, which got shortened to 'Eminem' and it kind of stuck."

She laughed. "Oh my."

"Yeah." He rubbed his hands up and down his jeans. "That brings us to Max."

Annie had barely ever heard Auggie utter two words about the brother who was closest to him in age.

"He's only about fifteen months older than me and was just a year ahead in school. We've always had very similar interests and somehow always ended up in competition with each other. And Max is really good at the things that he does."

Annie placed her hand over his to quiet the continued fidgeting. "Except when you were around," she finished.

"Yeah. A lot of the time. I realize now how obnoxious I was at times, but who doesn't want to show up their big brother every chance possible?" Auggie wrapped his fingers around hers. "I think the Special Forces thing did us in for good, though. He'd rung out of the first phase of BUD/S in SEAL training maybe six weeks before I finished up." Auggie shook his head and let it hang a little. "I didn't know." He sighed and started again. "I knew he was the only person in the family who had even an inkling of what I'd just done. I would have never have called him if I'd have known, but I'd been off the grid for about six months."

"Oh, Auggie."

"I can see how it felt like I was calling to rub it in, but I honestly didn't know."

The cabin lights turned on and the flight attendants began preparing the cabin for landing. They pulled their seats back into the correct position and relinquished their empty cups before Annie had a chance to reply. Like usual, in those moments when she couldn't find the right thing to say, she just held his hand.

Before they knew it, they were safely at the gate and retrieving their bags from the overhead bins. Auggie listened to the texts from his brother and sent another announcing their landing. Given the late hour, they were able to move quickly through the airport. Annie knew Brendan as soon as she saw him. He was a slightly older, cleaner cut version of Auggie. Her step quickened without informing Auggie, whom she was guiding.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Andersons at two o'clock."

Dana broke away from her spot beside Brendan and ran toward Auggie. He heard her coming and stopped to brace himself for the impact.

"Oh my God look at you!" She squealed, reaching up for a curl at the nape of his neck. "Your hair is so long. It looks great!"

Brendan walked up behind them and introduced himself to Annie. "Don't worry about them. It's always like this when they get together. I'm Brendan."

"Nice to meet you, Brendan. Annie Walker." She stuck out her hand. "Thanks so much for having me last minute like this."

Dana disengaged from embracing Auggie and turned toward Annie. "Oh, Annie! It's so nice to meet you, too. Auggie's told us, um, not much, but we're so happy that you're here!" Before Annie knew what was happening, Dana was hugging her as well and then somehow they all ended up in the car headed back to the house. She couldn't help but smile as she watched Auggie settle into the backseat, his face genuinely relaxed for the first time maybe ever since she'd met him. She couldn't wait to see him in the Anderson element.

"I made up both of the boys' rooms. I didn't know what you guys wanted. You're welcome to stay together. We're not that old-fashioned." Dana explained as they headed toward home.

"Anything will be fine, Dana," Auggie assured him. "As long as you don't make me sleep on a hospital bed with a bedside commode."

Annie saw Brendan raise his eyebrows in the rearview mirror. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't know how I kept it from you this long, but like two years ago when Mom was having the upstairs bathroom re-done, she had me stay with Rhett and Ruth when I came home for Thanksgiving, I think it was."

"Oh shit. He did not." Brendan nearly doubled over with laughter.

"Oh yeah. He did. Or she did. I'm still not sure whose bright idea that whole thing was. I started to ask where they'd gotten the equipment, but knowing them, they're just saving it for when they'll need it here in a year or two."

Annie would have been horrified at the thought of anyone treating Auggie like an invalid if the other three hadn't been laughing hysterically. She did have to admit that Auggie on a bedside commode would be a hilarious sight. Her laughter joined theirs.

"Thanks a lot, Walker," Auggie shot her a faux wounded look.

She reached over and kissed him on the cheek. "I won't let them make you use a bedside commode. I promise."

"Are you guys sure, 'cause we can stop by Rhett's on the way home," Brendan crowed from the driver's seat.

Dana playfully slapped her husband's arm. "Enough now, Bren." She twisted in her seat to address Annie and Auggie and reiterated her excitement. "We're just so glad you're both here!"


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I'm thinking there will be 2-3 more chapters, and I'll work diligently to have them all done by Premiere Night, but no promises! Thanks again for the reviews and PMs. The events of the Anderson meetings aren't set in stone, so your ideas and guidance on what you'd like to see play out are absolutely welcome! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 8

Annie woke rested the next morning. The clock beside her said eight, and she graciously welcomed the extra hour of sleep in Central Time. More often than not, she went East for work and there was no extra sleep that way. Who was she kidding? There was barely sleep anyway. She rolled toward Auggie and found him staring, so to speak, at the ceiling.

"Morning," she whispered, her voice raspy from sleep.

"About time, Sleepyhead."

"You could have gotten up without me." She stretched her arms above her head and yawned. He pulled her toward him.

"Sun shining?" He turned toward the East-facing window.

"Not really. Kind of overcast." She kissed his chest, then neck. "You want to run?"

"Yeah. Coffee first?"

Annie nodded. She tossed him his t-shirt and a pair of shorts as she pulled on her own. She guided him down the hall from the bedroom to the kitchen. Dana was searching through the fridge as Brendan worked on coffee. He turned as Annie and Auggie entered the kitchen.

"You sleep okay?"

"Perfect, thanks," Annie assured them.

"What do you guys want for breakfast? I can do just about anything." Dana closed the fridge and joined Annie and Auggie at the kitchen table.

"Just a banana and some coffee," requested Auggie. "We're going to try to grab a quick run, if that's okay."

"Oh, sure. Brendan's working on coffee now." Dana took a deep breath and raised her eyebrows in Annie's direction. "I talked to your mom last night before you got here. She was hoping everyone could get together for dinner this evening since you guys will be in the city tomorrow."

Auggie turned toward Brendan. "Guess I wasn't going to get out of that."

"Nope. She'll have Jim mowing and trimming all day, for sure."

"She wants us to come there?"

Brendan shrugged. "You didn't really think you were going to avoid a visit to the homestead?" He brought two cups of coffee and two bananas over to the table. "Milk? Sugar?"

"This is fine, thanks." Annie said. She drank hers pretty quickly and headed back to the room to grab their shoes and socks.

"And everyone is coming?" Auggie asked again, just to be totally sure.

"Yeah," Dana affirmed. "And do you think Annie would be okay with a girls' spa day?"

"I guess. Why?"

"Well, don't fall off the chair, but Ruth thought it might be nice for the girls to go out together tomorrow."

"Hm. Really? Doesn't seem like her scene."

"She can actually be fun sometimes. She's more laid back than she used to be. Ever since she the job at the University."

"What's Rhett have to say about that."

"He's a little calmer, too," Brendan offered. "He's going out of town on Saturday for one of the reenactment things he does and won't be back until Sunday night, but he seemed genuinely bummed that he couldn't make the game."

"I guess I've been away for a while."

"But you're here now." Dana stood from her chair and moved over to kiss him on the cheek as Annie appeared around the corner. "Both of you."

"What did I miss?" She juggled Auggie's shoes in her hands.

Auggie stood and walked toward her. "Nothing. Really. You ready?"

She nodded, "Sure. See you guys in a bit?"

"Do you need directions?" Brendan asked.

"Nah, we'll just go in a circle," assured Annie.

After their run and showers, Brendan, Dana and Auggie showed Annie around the area. They drove down to Winnetka to New Trier High School, the center point of most Anderson life. Dana taught English, Eamon and Emmett would be sophomores in the fall, and Brendan's company had recently been awarded the SBA contract for renovations and a new addition. Brendan pulled into the parking lot and Dana showed them around the grounds and into the school.

Auggie asked to show Annie the trophy case where the names of state champions were listed. The names were arranged by year and included thousands of students since the school's inception over a decade before.

"Aha!" Annie cheered in triumph. "August Anderson, State Champion Wrestling, 145 lb weight class, 1995." She looked back down the list. "And 138 lb weight class 1994."

"I was runner-up in '93, too, but that didn't make the wall."

"Looks like you've bulked up a bit since then," Annie grinned, her hand firmly on his chiseled arm.

Brendan joined them. "Um, substantially. My mom has some photos you're going to love. I think he was so good because he was all elbows and squirming."

"Hilarious." Auggie deadpanned as he linked arms with Annie as they walked back through the halls.

"Any other super Anderson athletes?" she asked.

"Max was a rower. Had some offers from East Coast schools. He wrestled," Auggie turned toward Brendan, "What was he? 152 lb?"

"At least that. He was all jacked up when he rowed," Brendan remembered.

"He played baseball, too," added Dana.

"Troy and I dabbled in just about everything, baseball, football. Troy swam, too." Brendan recalled.

"And Rhett?" Annie inquired.

Brendan shrugged. "I think he was on the chess team for a while."

The meandered back to the car and headed toward the lake, to the beach where the brothers spent many of their spring and summer days growing up. The sun broke through the clouds as they pulled in, creating a sparkling shimmer across the lake. Brendan showed Annie around the park. They walked down to the water's edge while Auggie stood, leaning against the car, his eyes straight ahead as though he were looking out across the vast expanse, far away.

Dana walked up beside him. "Where are you, Aug?"

"Here. A long time ago, though." Dana patted his arm. "Do you ever think about what would have happened if I'd stayed here, too?"

"You'd have been so miserable and bored, you'd have poked your eyes out," she tried.

He turned toward her with a sad grin. "You're probably right."

"You were a big fish, Auggie. Way too big for this pond."

"Now I'm an invisible fish in a theoretical pond, or something like that."

"She's good for you, Auggie."

"I know."

"But?"

"Am I good enough for her?"

"She loves you. She acts like she does, anyway, and isn't that what love is? Showing someone how much you care about them and want to be with them?"

"You make it all seem so simple."

"Oh, Auggie. It is. You love her, she loves you."

Auggie reached down and kissed the top of Dana's head. "I wish that's all there was to it, Dana. I really do."

"Relationships aren't ever perfect, Auggie, but if you feel strongly about one, about someone, you work hard at it, just like anything else you want to last."

Brendan and Annie joined them back at the car, interrupting them before Augge could answer. "Ready to head out?" Brendan asked as Annie slipped her fingers into Auggie's.

"We'll walk, if that's okay," he told his brother.

"Sure, do you know where you're going?" Annie had the address and her phone and assured them they'd find their way back.

They stood hand in hand in the parking area as Brendan and Dana drove off. "Are you okay?" asked Annie.

"It's weird being here."

"With me?"

For as self-assured as she usually presented herself, Auggie was often taken aback by these moments of Annie's self-doubt when it came to their relationship. Or maybe just relationships in general. Her track record wasn't the greatest, especially after coming to the Agency.

"Of course not." He started to say more about wanting to show her off to everyone he knew but stopped short.

They started walking west. "Tell me about your parents."

Auggie scuffed the toe of his shoe. "There really isn't much to tell. They're good, hard-working people. Tried hard to raise us to be polite, productive members of society. Somewhat succeeded, I guess." He brushed his hair out of his face. "It stresses my mom out that we're not all close, and that I went away and got hurt, and that Max is still out there with the possibility of deployment again, and that I don't call very often, and that I visit even less, and that it's been about 10 years since I've brought a girl home. Mom stuff like that."

"And your dad?"

Auggie shrugged. "He's quieter than she is. Always there when you need him, and has that kind of face where you'd always tell him more than you meant to just by the way he looked at you."

"And now?"

"This is harder for him than her," he said, indicating the cane.

"He's a fixer. He's always been really handy with tools, ideas, whatever. He just seems to make things better. Wait until you see his grill set-up. He came up with the whole thing himself." Auggie paused a second. "He worked a white-collar job – he was a bank manager – but had very blue-collar roots. My granddad was an autoworker and Grandma stayed at home. He's an only child, and they wanted him to go to college and have more than they did. And he appreciated that but never wanted to forget, or us, to forget where he came from."

"Yeah."

"He had five boys, so it was inevitable that at least one would end up smack dab in the middle of a war." Their walk had slowed. "I rehabbed near here at the Hines VA, so I did end up spending some time at home toward the end of my training." He closed his eyes. "I had some rough days, but I think my dad's were tougher sometimes, watching me." They'd come to a stop on the sidewalk. Annie directed them to a low wall along the walk and they sat. "Even now, when I think things are pretty good, and I've come to terms with things as best as I can, I can hear the hurt in his voice when we talk, especially when he sees me."

"He worries about you, Auggie. That's totally normal for a parent."

"I guess my mom has figured out a way to be more matter-of-fact about it. At least when I'm around. You'll see."

"I'm glad I'm going to meet them and the others. It will be nice to see another side of you. And I'm really looking forward to the photo albums."

"I think they were all lost in a selective fire that consumed all my embarrassing teenaged moments," he laughed as they stood.

"Somehow, I think your mother would have found a way to save or replace them."

"I guess you're right."

"We're going to be late. We'd better head back to the house."

"How can we be late, the party's for us?" He grinned but joined her steps toward the house.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Brendan drove up to the gate and punched in the code. Annie sat upright in her seat as the gate swung backward allowing them admittance. They continued up a tree-lined drive before arriving at a large white Colonial Georgian-style mansion with four large columns supporting a massive porch. They pulled around the circular drive and parked behind a stone fountain.

"Um, is this your parents' house?" she whispered to Auggie, a little surprised. She's envisioned something much more modest given the few stories he'd told about the house where he grew up.

"Yeah. They moved here when I was in college."

"Oh." She felt like maybe she hadn't gotten the entire story.

"Mom's from Pittsburgh. Her family was in steel. She grew up a lot differently than Dad. They met and fell in love when she was rebelling against being a debutante."

Brendan chimed in at this point. "Mom had always wanted to be a doctor, so it definitely ruffled feathers when she fell for the bank teller son of a GM assembly line worker and passed up a husband at Harvard Law and a house in Connecticut for Chicago Medical School."

Auggie took over the story at this point. "Our grandfather allegedly threatened to deny her trust fund, but by the time everything went down, she was already 18 and the money had been transferred to her control. She and Dad used part of it to buy the house we grew up in and to pay for Mom's schooling. They understood that a nicer neighborhood meant better schools and opportunities for us, so we went to school with kids who got Lexuses for their 15th birthdays and all that, but we worked in the summers."

"So your mom was a doctor with a steel trust fund and you caddied at the country club instead of joining?"

Auggie shrugged. "They paid for college for all of us."

"A house for us," Brendan interjected. "And they've set up funds for our kids."

Auggie jumped back in. "And she's a medical researcher. Started out in radiology, but that's hard to do when you're pregnant five times. She moved to radiation oncology and finally to oncology research."

"She's still working?"

"She has a lab at Rosalind Franklin Health Sciences." Brendan continued. "I asked her a once why she never went to NYC or Boston or Houston, and she said she had two reasons for never leaving. One was that Chicago and Dad were her escape from a life that would have never satisfied her and the other was that if she could make some great breakthrough in science or medicine, she wanted it to be in the name of Rosalind Franklin not Charles Dana or Sidney Farber."

"I'm sorry to seem so shocked, but I just asked Auggie to tell me about your parents earlier today, and he said 'There's not much to tell.' My dad was career Army and my mom made a neat and clean if somewhat tacky home."

Auggie shrugged. "I always forget that people think this is odd. It's just how we grew up."

Dana turned back to Annie and Auggie. "Why don't we just go in so you can meet them?"

Annie smiled. "Great idea." She loved Dana's practicality.

They had arrived a bit before the others so Auggie had time to introduce Annie without the entire crew descended upon them.

Hand in hand the two couples entered the front door. Brendan called out and Auggie heard scampering upstairs. Moments later, a youthful-appearing middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair dressed in denim capris and a sleeveless button-down shirt ran down the steps. She briefly ignored the others and threw her arms around Auggie's neck. He hugged her back tightly. They were both wiping their eyes as the separated. Auggie reached for Annie.

"Mom this is Annie. Annie Walker, my mom, Gwen Hamilton."

"Dr. Hamilton, it's so nice to meet you," Annie started.

"Oh please, I'm Gwen." She pulled Annie into what felt like a very motherly hug. "It's great to meet you, too." She turned to the others. "Dad's out back at the grill. There are drinks out there, too."

They traversed an expansive foyer , passing through a professional-grade kitchen and French doors to an outdoor kitchen area with the aforementioned grill and separate fire pit. A pool and Jacuzzi with a distant tennis court rounded out the expansive and perfectly manicured yard.

Manning the grill was a slightly shorter, stockier, grayer version of Auggie and Brendan. And although the angles of his face appeared to have been rounded over time, Annie recognized the hard set of his jaw as he focused on the fire. Jim Anderson looked up from his grilling to find Auggie and Brendan in front of him.

"Hey, Dad." Auggie greeted him softly. "Smells good."

"It will be." Jim shuffled his feet and stood there with the tongs in his hands. He hung them up and moved awkwardly toward Auggie for a quick hug. "You seem well."

"I am." He felt Annie moving to his left. "Dad, this is Annie Walker. Annie, my dad, Jim Anderson."

They shook hands and exchanged pleasantries before Annie was pulled into a tutorial about the differences in grilling and barbecue. Dana and Gwen arrived with drinks, and Gwen took the opportunity to steal Auggie away for a walk around the yard. Brendan and Dana grabbed tennis rackets and balls and invited Annie to join them when she'd finished at the grill. Seeing Auggie heading across the yard with his mom, she joined Dana's side of the net.

"Well?" Auggie asked when they were out of earshot at the far corner of the lawn.

"She's pretty, but you've been here five minutes and I've heard about three sentences about her prior to this trip." He could always leave the pragmatism to Mom. "Give me a little time, and you can be sure you'll get my report."

"I know." He really did. She'd never been shy about her thoughts on their girlfriends with him or his brothers. Wives weren't off the hook, either. "I really like her, though, so keep that in mind."

"I will." Gwen promised. "How are you?"

"I'm good." He realized they'd subtly switched now from mother and son to doctor and patient.

"Headaches?"

"Bad one last week, but that's been the worst one in probably three months."

"Moods?"

"Better. Even." The Parker thing had shaken him, so had almost losing Annie – in DC, in Russia, in India. He still occasionally fought depression, anxiety, symptoms of PTSD. Thankfully, he was a lot better at recognizing the signs than he was at choosing matching socks these days.

"Are you taking anything right now?"

"Lexapro, but we just dropped it down to 10 mg. I had been on 20 for about six months."

She mumbled a little sound that he knew meant she agreed with his physician's assessment of the situation. She moved on. "Your dad is really excited that you're here."

"It's good to be here. Really."

"He's taking Rhett's ticket to the game."

"But he hates hockey."

"But he loves you, Auggie. He wants to spend time with you."

"I know it hurts him to see me like this."

"He's sensitive, Auggie. Like Rhett and Max." She shrugged. "Not so much like you and me." She shook her head. "And Brendan and Troy somehow turned out as a nice mix of the two of us. Lucky them."

"How's Max?" he asked finally.

"Rhett keeps up with him pretty regularly. Sounds like things are going well. This position at NSAWC was exactly what he needed. He felt stuck on the ship and just sort of adrift, terrible pun intended, since the SEAL training. Your dad says he was born to fly and couldn't believe that he ever wanted to leave it."

"He'll have his 20 years in soon. Any idea if he'll stay or go?"

"I don't know. Depends somewhat on the situation in Afghanistan. He'll be going in September to fly some relief missions."

"He told you all this?"

"Not me. Rhett. Your dad."

"I'm sorry if I made things bad between the two of you."

Gwen shrugged again. "He thinks I took your 'side' in whatever happened between the two of you, and you know how stubborn he is."

In his various episodes of required therapy, Auggie had discussed his relationship with his brother from time to time. That had helped him come to a couple of conclusions. "He got really upset about events he couldn't control in his own life and chose me as a scapegoat." He cleared his throat. "It's not okay with me, but that's what he did. I'm willing to work it out with him, but I don't think he even knows that there's a problem."

Gwen felt Auggie's body tensing as he talked about Max. "Why don't we head back with the others? They'll be ready for a dip in the pool if they stay on the tennis court much longer. You should join them."

He exhaled forcefully and tried to relax his body and mind. "That sounds like a great idea. Our suits are in the car."

They walked toward the court and the laughter of his brother, sister-in-law and Annie. Dana called out that she and Annie were about to take the set from Brendan and would join him in the pool. She'd left the suits in the bath house, and Auggie went to change.

He emerged from the changing room just in time to hear Dana and Annie cry out in victory. He stepped into the pool and waited for Annie to join him. When she arrived, she placed a cold beer beside his hand and kissed him on the cheek before taking a seat on the edge of the water beside him.

"Brendan never really was very good at tennis," he mused.

"And he only had to get it in the big box, too," she pointed out. "It was a rout."

"The others coming?"

"In a minute. Dana just got a text from Leah and they'll be here in about 15 minutes. That caused some sort of frenzy."

"Coming down from Forest Hills. Troy took his J.P. Morgan money up there to chart his own course."

"Oh yeah?"

"He was really the only one of us that got tired of the 'working class' exercise."

"But he works hard now."

"Yeah, but in the Asian Markets, not in a supermarket."

"Touché."

"Hop in here while I have you all to myself." He grinned at her, a silly but somewhat romantic smile.

How could she resist?


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: No time to waste. Writing at a furious pace. Trying to beat the premiere! Maybe two more after this ...

* * *

Chapter 10

Moments later there was a good bit of commotion out front. Annie swam up to Auggie, asking if they should go meet the others.

"Nah. They'll come to me."

"Auggie!"

He faked a wounded look. "What? I'm blind. I might run into something."

She splashed him and dove down, pulling him off-balance and under the water.

"Not fair," he sputtered as he surfaced.

She pushed him playfully. "You needed to be knocked down."

Before they could answer, Troy, Leah and their girls burst through the back door with Brendan, Leah and Gwen close behind. The girls stripped down to suits and headed toward the pool as Annie grabbed towels for the two of them. Brendan introduced Annie to Leah as Troy grabbed Auggie in a wet hug.

"August, you look well," he said in somber formality before he gave his mostly unsuspecting brother a shove back into the pool.

"Troy, seriously." Leah admonished. "When Althea pushes some kid in the pool and we get called about it, I'm giving the phone directly to you." She glanced over at her kids, taking in the movements of a particularly sneaky three-year-old.

They played in the pool with the girls for about half an hour until Rhett and Ruth arrived just before dinner was served. Annie and Auggie were separated for most of the rest of the evening. Troy and Brendan had grabbed him right after dinner and they had disappeared somewhere around the house. Rhett and Jim had taken a flashlight into the hedges to examine something. Annie found herself sitting around the fire with the women. Leah joined them after she had started a DVD in the family room for the older girls, Maeve and Helena, and checked on Althea, who had conked out shortly after dinner. She sat on the glider beside Ruth and accepted a glass of wine from the older woman.

"Troy wants another baby," she sighed as her entrance to the conversation.

"And?" Dana inquired.

She shrugged and drained her glass. "Everyone says three is the hardest number of kids to have, so what's one more? Besides, I like being home with them, and Helena will be in kindergarten in the fall, so we have a pre-school spot to fill."

"That's your decision-making progress?" Ruth laughed as she flicked a ladybug from her sundress. As far as Annie could tell, she had not quilted it herself.

"Althea is a bit of a terror, but she's at a fun age now. We can do lots of things without lugging around a diaper bag at the moment, but I actually like having a baby around the house." She looked down at her midsection, "Just not around my waist."

"Oh please," Dana admonished. "You were back to your pre-pregnancy weight by your six-week check. And you were breast feeding!"

"I'm over 30 now, though. Things are all down hill from there."

Ruth sighed. "Wait until you hit 40. Things literally go down hill." She glanced toward her chest from left to right.

They all laughed as Ruth turned to her. "How are you enjoying your visit, Annie?"

"Well, we pretty much stayed around here today, but Dana tells me you have a fun day planned for tomorrow!"

Ruth laid out the plans for their excursion, which was set to include sightseeing, brunch, spa treatments, dinner and a show. Leah reiterated to Gwen that she'd be more than happy to get a babysitter to watch the girls so she could come with them. Gwen declined again, stating she'd already planned a day for the four of them.

The men arrived soon afterward and joined the ladies by the fire. As expected, Rhett had a few Smithsonian questions for Annie. Luckily, she was able to answer them using a little common sense and information from the day of the conference she had been able to attend the weekend before. She mentioned it, and his eyes brightened.

"I'm going to have to get to that one next year," he affirmed. "I usually do the Midwest Regional in Minneapolis instead, but I've heard the rotating National conference is the way to go."

Annie assured him it had been terribly informative. Rhett looked very pleased to hear this, and Annie hoped that meant she got his seal of approval. He bent her ear for another half an hour about some of the pieces he had restored for his own home. The more he talked, the more she understood the bedside commode. There was no way he'd let Auggie ram into a 17th Century armoire with original inlaid panels in the middle of the night!

The party broke up around ten. Troy – strong, tall, and strikingly handsome, carried the older girls to the car while Leah doled out kisses around the campfire. Troy came back in for Althea and wished them all goodnight. Rhett and Ruth were the next to go. Ruth gave Annie a quick squeeze, telling her she was so looking forward to their time together tomorrow. Rhett hugged Auggie and kissed Annie lightly on the cheek. He again announced his regret at his prior commitment the next day. Ruth mused aloud that he could just cancel by citing any type of emergency. He decided he'd sleep on it and they made their way to their car.

Auggie yawned and stretched his arms high above his head, allowing the left one to come down around Annie's shoulders. He pulled her close for a quick kiss. She wished they could have gone further, but on his parents' porch in front of them, she reluctantly allowed him to release her.

Brendan stood next. "I guess we're all that's left."

"You could stay," Gwen offered. "You can always stay." Auggie felt this directed toward him.

"I'd love to, Mom. Maybe next time, though?"

She walked behind him and kissed his right cheek. "Next time."

He stood and pulled Annie reluctantly to her feet. She said goodbye to the Auggie's parents and thanked them for having her before following the others back to Brendan's car. She woke with a bit of a start when Brendan turned off the car. Auggie reached down and brushed her hair back from her face. They walked hand in hand into the house. He headed off to shower while Annie took a seat in the living room across from Brendan and Dana.

Dana smiled a tired smile across at this girl Auggie obviously loved. She'd known him a long time – longer than Brendan, and he'd been the first Anderson to grab at her heartstrings, although always in a totally platonic way. She'd watched the two of them together over the past day and saw that they moved with incredible synchronization. Annie anticipated his movements and Dana could see that he relied on her, not at all in the simple sense of that word – he didn't rely on anyone, but she smoothed out the rough edges so perfectly that without the cane in his hand, you almost didn't know that he was blind.

She guessed she recognized it because in some ways she did the same thing for Brendan. Although he was a talented designer and builder, he'd struggled his entire life with crippling dyslexia. Dana fancied herself a master teacher, taking pride in her ability to help almost any student with almost any learning problem improve on his or her reading skills. But they'd tried everything short of Scientology for Brendan with limited success. As his talent had allowed him to rise within his field, he had increased need for correspondence with clients and investors. She spent a large part of her summer and most of her spare time during the school year reading and proofreading documents, emails, texts, whatever he needed so that no one ever mistook him for anything but the genius that he was.

"Does he seem okay to you all?" Annie asked when she heard the shower start. Dana noticed that Annie had directed this mostly to her.

"A little quiet maybe," Dana nodded.

Annie looked at both of them. They knew as much about what she and Auggie did for a living as anyone. It was them or no one. "I feel like he's holding something back from me or from our relationship, and I know we can't always tell each other everything, but I don't think this is about work."

Dana nodded again. Brendan leaned forward on his seat, his brow furrowed. They knew it, too.

"I've only had a few minutes with him, but my sense is that as much as he's come to terms with losing his sight and all that encompasses, but he couldn't completely figure how that would play out in the long-term in regards to a relationship. Oh, I know he was quite adept at using this to pick up women, but I'm not talking about that." She paused, listening for the shower. It was still running. "I don't know what to say about Billy's sister and all that."

"I do, but that's another issue," interrupted Annie. She didn't want to bring up Simon now.

"My understanding was her issue was with his, um, profession, but I think he feels like there will always be something that will keep him from being enough."

Annie's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh! That's just not true." Her hand dropped down to her throat. "Is that what he thinks?" She realized she was crying. "I can't tell you the things we've been through together that are proof to the contrary, but that's just not true." She stood. "I'm going to wait for him. I think we need to talk."

Dana stood too. She walked around the coffee table to give Annie a supportive hug. Yes, she would welcome this girl into their family as soon as Auggie gave the word.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: This one is long, and there may be some typos. I've only given it two reviews instead of my usual three. One more to come that will hopefully be in before Season 4 starts.

* * *

Chapter 11

He emerged wearing only a towel. Annie was silent on the bed, but he smelled the chlorine. She knew he'd know she was there. It was virtually impossible to sneak up on him.

"I think I left you some hot water," he smiled. In a matter of seconds, he'd crossed the distance between them and kissed her. He pulled back, a perplexed look on his face when she didn't lean it to him. Panicking, he stood and groped for his pants. He didn't know who had said what, but he would find out. "What's wrong?"

"Why do you think I'm going to leave you?"

He shook his head, more confused. "What? What did my brothers say?"

Suddenly, she knew why he'd pushed back from her for the past six weeks, ever since she had worked a DPD op in India with him as her handler. "Is this about Mumbai?"

He jumped up from the bed. "Of course it's about Mumbai! And every other op where you're in the field and I'm telling you where to go with an upside down and backwards map!"

"What?" She reached for his hand to bring him back to the bed with her.

"When you were pinned down, no one else was in the room. The map had been hand-drawn and sent in pdf from the asset on the ground. I couldn't get it to transmit to you, and you needed verbal directions. The ones I gave you were upside down and backwards. You walked, or rather, ran right into the people looking for you. I could have gotten you killed." He dropped his head into his hands.

Annie rubbed the back of his neck. "Auggie, come on. You know what the field is like. Sometimes your intel is bad."

He didn't look up but turned his head a little bit toward her. "But the guys on your side aren't usually giving it to you."

She leaned her head against his. "Things happen. You know this. Even with perfect information, sometimes things go wrong. It's not your fault when something does. I promise it isn't."

He stood again. "You say that, but what if I let my feelings for you cloud my judgment. I'm crazy enough about you now, but what if we were married or had kids. What if I get their mom hurt or captured or killed? What then?" He knelt down in front of her. "What then?"

Annie dropped to the floor beside him, her arms wrapped around his neck. "Oh my dear, sweet Auggie," she kissed him and his hands snaked under her top, untying her swimsuit top before he caught himself and slowed down.

"Annie," he whispered. "Wait." He pulled her back onto the bed and sat beside her again. "You have to answer that."

"I wish you could see me looking at you right now, so you'd know how very serious I am." She placed his hand on the side of her face. "I trust you with my life. You've come to my rescue more completely and consistently than anyone I can even imagine. And if we were married and had children, there is no one I would trust more with them or to bring me home to them."

His fingers trailed down the angle of her jaw and outlined her neck. "You're sure?"

"I've never been surer of anything."

"You'll always have to drive."

She smiled and kissed him again. "I think I prefer it that way." She squeezed his hand. "Does that make you feel better about this?" Auggie nodded and Annie stood. "Good. I'm glad. And I'm going to take a shower."

"I'll be waiting."

* * *

Annie's day started early. She didn't have time to run with Auggie, but he assured her that he and Brendan would at least get out and stretch their legs before they headed to the city for the game. Annie and Dana kissed Auggie and Brendan and piled into Leah's massive SUV. Ruth handed them each an itinerary. Leah rolled her eyes from the driver's seat, but Annie appreciated the planning. She looked down over the list and over to Dana, her backseat partner who raised her eyebrows in a mischievous grin.

They'd made it through brunch, shopping, Ruth's top picks for essential Chicago sightseeing and found themselves wrapped in terry cloth robes waiting for their massages following pedicures when they finally had a moment to themselves.

"So?" Dana asked. She had carefully watched Annie and Auggie this morning for any sign of anything. But who was she kidding? They were master spies. They could figure out how to play it cool for fifteen minutes at breakfast.

"We talked through some things." She smiled a little. "I think it will help."

"I hope I didn't overstep." Dana honestly hoped she hadn't.

"No," Annie jumped in quickly. "Not at all. Thank you for worrying about him. About us."

"I love Brendan with all my heart, and Auggie was my best friend before that. They're good people, Annie. I know you love him, but if the time comes that you don't and you don't want to be with him anymore, please tell him." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "Now I'm definitely out of bounds."

Annie scooted closer and embraced Dana. "I trust him more than anyone I've ever met, and I want him to trust that I love him. No matter what."

"It takes time and repeated assurance in both words and actions. But in my experience, Anderson men learn that pretty quickly."

Their massage therapists showed up and whisked them in opposite directions before Annie could say anything more. Following the massages, they headed to dinner at the restaurant owned by the winner of the Chicago season of Top Chef before continuing on to The Book of Mormon. By 11 pm, they were back in the car and headed north. They all congregated at Brendan and Dana's to watch the rest of the hockey coverage until they guys arrived.

* * *

Meanwhile, the men passed their Saturday at a more leisurely pace. Rhett begged out of his work commitment to join the guys at the boat slip around ten. The other four were pleasantly surprised that he'd made it and that he brought bagels and lox. They spent a couple of hours on the water, each of them fishing a bit, no one catching much of anything other than some rays of sun. As they lounged on the deck, Auggie asked Brendan about the twins and lacrosse camp.

"Well, they played on the school's club hockey team this year, and they needed defensemen. So the coach had a matched pair of talented skaters that he wanted on the ice more often, and he moved them back. Eamon didn't care too much. He's usually plays as a more defensive forward, but it didn't sit well with Emmett. So this spring, instead of skating with the spring squad, he signed up for lacrosse. Partly because of that and partly because of some girl who plays field hockey who's always running around when they practice that he has a crush on. It's actually a pretty fast and physical game, so after a couple of practices, Eamon joined up, too."

Auggie whistled. He knew from experience how possessive of their athletes these coaches could be. "Have they burned their hockey bridges? I mean, lacrosse is pretty cool and all, but what happens when this girl jogs off with the quarterback?" Football was still always king in the hierarchy of high school sports.

"I don't think so, but let's not encourage them in this too much. They've sent me links to brochures for Wesleyan and Middlebury already."

"I thought you were ideally supposed to support and encourage your kids," mused Auggie.

"Do you have any idea how much tuition we're talking about? I'm fine with encouraging them to go to a state school and get a decent education and work really hard."

"Brendan!" Troy threw his t-shirt at his brother.

"Obviously we'll send them wherever they want to go. It just wasn't what I'd envisioned."

"Like everything always is," Auggie pointed out.

"So true, little brother. So true."

They headed back to shore and grabbed a quick lunch at the club before showers and a nap at Jim and Gwen's. Around four-thirty they headed toward the city in Brendan's Suburban. Since Brendan was in charge of the tickets and getting them into the box, Jim asked Auggie if he could guide him.

"It's been a while since you've had to do this, Dad," Auggie said as he took Jim's arm. "I'm a little more skilled than I was back then. Just let me know when we get to the steps."

Jim nodded, then remembered that he needed to give verbal cues. "Sure."

The stadium worker led them to the box where waiters were bringing in platters of stadium food and drinks. Jim directed Auggie to a seat before he grabbed them both a beer and something to eat. Auggie adjusted his radio to the correct station so he could follow along with the play-by-play once the game started.

"Annie seems like a good girl," Jim started. Auggie sat forward a little in the seat wondering where this would go. "It's good that you brought her home. Seems like she and Dana have hit it off well."

"And Ruth. Annie has texted me a couple of times today. They're having a really good time. She says Ruth is keeping them all laughing."

While his parents had never been officially read-in, Auggie knew that they knew more than they let on. And they apparently knew enough not to ask him questions he couldn't answer.

"It would be nice to have you around more often."

"Dad."

Jim placed his hand on Auggie's arm to quiet him. "I know that moving here is pretty much out of the question. I know that you do important work. I'm just saying that if you ever wanted a change of pace, we'd be happy to have you around. Both of you, as the case may be."

"Thanks, Dad."

The lights soon dimmed for the pregame celebration. Auggie stood with his father and brothers for the announcement of the teams, the pageantry, and finally the National Anthem. Brendan stood shoulder to shoulder with Auggie and wrapped a protective arm around him as the song ended and the crowd erupted in cheers. Auggie knew Brendan wanted to say something to him. People often felt the need around patriotic events. Auggie pulled Brendan into a hug. Brendan held on for a long time.

"It's okay, Bren. I'm okay. Really."

"I know you are, but it still sucks."

"Sometimes it does, but I'm still here and a lot of guys aren't. I just try to think about that."

Brendan's head shot up. "Oh Fuck. I can't think about that. Not with Max heading back over there in the fall."

Auggie laughed and they separated. "Thanks for that."

"Ah, you know me, always good for a laugh."

Auggie clapped his brother on the shoulder. Troy and Rhett grabbed seats behind the three already in the front. Apparently they all wanted to be poised to keep Auggie informed of everything that happened on the ice. He sat back in his seat, a beer in his hand, a smile on his face.

* * *

A little over three hours later, the men, charged with emotion over the Blackhawks' win, floated to the car. And Brendan, who faithfully served as designated driver and got them safely through the celebrating city and back to his house where the women were apparently burning the midnight oil.

As the men stumbled through the door, Dana met Brendan at the door with a kiss and a beer. He shook his head but handed it over to Auggie, who was very close to being over served. Auggie grabbed the beer and then Annie's waist. She giggled and fell onto the couch on top of him. The girls had continued their celebration of dinner while watching the game.

"Empty net goal," called Leah as she crawled onto Troy's lap where he'd basically collapsed in an armchair.

Dana, who'd also been drinking since they'd gotten home, glanced over at her husband, understanding why he hadn't taken the beer. He'd likely be driving his brother and their wives home.

Brendan loaded Rhett and Ruth into his car, while his dad who'd stopped with the one beer at dinner took Troy and Leah in their car to his house since the kids were there anyway. Dana rode along with Brendan, giving Auggie and Annie the house to themselves. They stumbled down the hall and passed out on the bed before they had a chance to change even their clothes.

* * *

At 7 am on Sunday morning, both of their phones exploded with light and noise. Annie jumped up in the bed, sure that her head would also explode. She placed Auggie's phone in his hand and hit the answer button on both of them.

Arthur was way to excited to be on the phone this early. "Annie, is Auggie on the line."

He sat up disoriented but was able to pull it together quickly. "I'm here."

"Our guy's on the move to Russia. He's leaving Hong Kong today on a commercial flight carrying a laptop with the entire structure of the NSA at his fingertips for possible dispersal. When he lands he'll no longer have a US Passport. He's gonna have a helluva time getting out of the Metro Transit Area without asylum, and State's working hard to make sure that doesn't happen."

"What about Russia? Putin's letting him in. Will they grant asylum anyway?" Annie asked.

"We don't think so, but he's unpredictable. So are the South American despots."

"Arthur." Joan was apparently on the line as well.

"Okay. Not despots. When are you scheduled to land?"

"Not until 7:30 tonight," Annie noted.

"We'll get you on an earlier one. Can you get to O'Hare by noon?"

"No," Auggie was firm on this. "We can be there by two."

"Sounds good. We'll have more details soon."

"My car is at Dulles," Annie injected just before the Campbells rung off.

"We'll take care of that, too," Arthur confirmed and then they were gone.

Annie and Auggie flopped back on the bed for a few more precious moments of sleep. Their vacation was over.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Ok. We've made it to the end. I haven't yet watched the Premiere - it's on the DVR. I wanted to finish this before I saw where things acutally go. I want to thank you all for your continued following, reading, reviews and messages. They do mean so much when you're in the middle of a story wondering if anyone is picking up what you're laying down. I have some ideas for continuing this universe, specifically with regard to the absent Max, but we'll see where that goes. Thanks again! bP

* * *

Chapter 12

When their alarm rang 30 mintues later, Annie immediately started on the suitcases while Auggie showered. By the time they'd switched places, Annie had everything packed neatly with a change of clothing left out for both of them. Auggie then headed out to find Brendan and Dana and fill them in on the change of plans. After Annie dressed she joined them all in the kitchen. She gratefully accepted the steaming mug of black coffee Brendan placed in front of her.

"I'll call Gwen. She'll want to see you before you go." Dana stood from the table, and Annie could see that she was about to cry.

"We're all packed," Annie said, somewhat to Auggie, somewhat to the room.

Auggie stood. He couldn't stand the feeling in the room anymore. "Let's just head up to Mom's now." He also needed to dissipate some anxious energy, and there was no heavy bag around. "We can walk."

The others agreed and they started up the street. Leah and Troy's cars were still in the driveway, and Gwen met them in they foyer as they arrived.

"What are you all doing here?"

"Work call. We're gonna have to head out around noon." Auggie explained. "I thought we should come here first.

"There wasn't a car at the gate."

"We walked." He took his mom's arm as they crossed the hall toward the kitchen and the others.

"Look what the cat dragged in," Gwen exclaimed.

"Annie!" squealed Maeve and Helena as they ran toward their pool buddy.

"Will you braid my hair like yours?" Maeve asked, leading Annie off to the breakfast nook, Helena trailing not far behind.

Auggie took a seat at the dining room table beside Troy.

"What's up?" His brother asked.

"Work stuff. They need me back this afternoon."

"No one else can reboot the servers or whatever?" Troy jibed.

"It's a little more complicated than that. I'm not actually the IT guy. You know that, right?" Auggie rolled his eyes as he heard Troy and Brendan cackle with laughter. "You guys are hilarious. You should take your little show on the road."

"Anytime we can get your dander up, Baby Bro, it's worth it," decided Troy. Brendan had to agree.

Dana, still sullen, looked up from her phone. "Rhett and Ruth will be here in a fifteen minutes with brunch."

"Do they always bring food?" Auggie asked.

Leah nodded. "I think they think it diffuses tense situations." She looked at the half-eaten muffin in her hand and sat it on the plate in front of her. "They may have something there."

By 9:30, Rhett and Ruth had arrived at the house with pastries and sandwiches. However, when Jim went to brew a new pot of coffee, he found the can was empty. Auggie and Dana offered to run to the store and pick up more. Gwen threw Dana her keys and they were off.

Two blocks into the drive, she still hadn't spoken to him. "Dana, you know we'd stay longer if we could." He didn't want to leave her on bad terms.

"I know. I'm not mad because you're leaving early; I'm mad because you're leaving."

"If it helps, I'm really excited about why we're leaving. I'm kind of in charge of whatever happens from now."

"Wow!" They turned left toward the stores. "Are you nervous?"

"A little. I haven't sent people into the field on my command before."

"You'll be great. Annie will be great." Dana couldn't imagine anything else.

Auggie smiled. "Annie's always great. She makes us look good on a regular basis."

They pulled into the market and Dana opened her door. Auggie asked her to wait a second as he pulled a creased clipping from his pocket.

"Can you take a look at this for me?"

Dana took the photo and looked over it. "It's really pretty. Have you gotten it already?"

"I did it once before without any input, and while I don't think that's what went wrong, I wanted someone else to take a look." He had another thought. "You guys were shopping yesterday. Did she look at anything? Do you think it's her style?"

Dana studied the picture of the diamond ring in her hands a bit more carefully. "It's simple but elegant. It's very much Annie, but you didn't answer me before. Have you already gotten something?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm not trying to scare her off. I just wanted you to tell me what you thought."

"I think when the time is right, this will be perfect." She placed the clipping back in his hand.

"I miss you, you know?" His voice broke a little. "I have someone in D.C. She's my boss actually, and that sometimes complicates things, but she's someone I can talk to. Not as much about Annie, but other things."

"You can call me anytime, Aug, really. I'll leave whatever hockey mom thing I'm doing to talk." Dana was starting to tear up by now, too. "I feel like I wasn't there for you when you needed someone."

"I didn't tell you what was going on."

Her volume increased a little. "Listen, Buster. We've had separate lives for over 15 years now, but no matter what season the boys were in or what girl you had in your life at the time, we stayed in touch. Even when you and Annie started working together, what like three years ago?" She wiped her eyes again. "Who was this Parker and what made her think she was enough for you?"

"Dana."

"How old was she? No wait. We have a saying, 'Peace Corps 24.' You weren't the first to be taken in by a girl who planned to save the world."

"Seriously?"

Dana leaned her head on his shoulder. "Oh, Auggie. Let's go get some coffee."

* * *

The goodbyes began almost as soon as they returned. Troy and Leah's girls had play dates, Dana and Brendan's boys would be home soon, and Rhett and Ruth were headed out on the lake with some neighbors. Gwen and Jim offered to take Annie and Auggie to the airport after they grabbed all their things from Brendan's. There were hugs and tears at both houses and finally at the security checkpoint at O'Hare. Annie hugged the Andersons, thanking them again for their hospitality. She moved over toward the line to give Auggie a moment with his parents.

"Be careful, my love," was all that Gwen said as she hugged him tightly. She kissed his cheek and finally let him go.

"Dad?" Auggie reached for Jim, who enveloped his son in a bear hug.

"I love you, Auggie. And I'm proud of you. Take care of yourself."

"I will. I love you both."

"Call when you can," Gwen called as he joined Annie in the line. They waved back until they dissolved into the crowd.

On the plane settled into their seats and well on their way, Annie watched Auggie again. The stress and tension of why they'd likely be engaged in over the next several days slowly settled on his shoulders. He fidgeted in the seat, seemingly unable to find a comfortable position.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"There will be an approach, and I don't see how it can be anyone but you."

Annie's brow furrowed. "But you said that our boss's boss's boss said that wasn't going to happen."

"Arthur and I have exchanged a couple of emails. That's apparently no longer the case."

He sat quietly for about three minutes before he started at the belt then crunched the remaining ice in his plastic cup.

"What now?" She asked, placing her hand over his to try to help him find some sort of calm.

"I wanted to ask you if you'd be interested in moving in together."

"For real?"

"Danielle's house could sell any day, and we're practically living together now, and I love that. I love you."

She smiled and reached across the seat to kiss him. "Yes. Absolutely yes."

He finally sighed and pushed his seat back just a little. "Well, that's a load off."

"Just so we're clear, if you had proposed, I'd have said no."

"I know," he grinned over at her. "That's why I didn't."

"Good man."

"But will you let me know when I can?"

Annie threw her head back and laughed again, drawing glares from their fellow passengers. She grinned sweetly at the lady across the aisle before she leaned back toward Auggie and whispered in his ear.

"Oh, believe me, Auggie Anderson. You'll know."

The End


End file.
